COMMENT
The Coalition Government's lack of vision and investment in roading and transport is bad for our greater region. The proposed Ōtaki to Levin expressway which was identified by the previous National Government as a Road of National Significance, is on the back-burner – and there's no money to build it for at least another five years. It doesn't seem right. All the ground work had been done by the previous Government and there was money in the coffers to pay for it.
Meanwhile, locals, truck drivers, and freight companies and those of us who live or work anywhere in the lower North Island are in limbo as we all wait on an expressway to replace a very dangerous stretch of road.
In 2017 the NZTA commissioned a study to investigate the need for safety improvements on State Highway One (SH1), between Taylors Rd and south Levin (Levin urban boundary) over the next eight to 10-year timeframe. The study acknowledged that this particular section is "classified as a high-risk rural road" and that, "until the design and construction of Ōtaki to north of Levin capital works are completed, there are expected to be a high number of high severity crashes on the existing route".
In fact, over the past 10 years, 24 people have died on this bit of road. Serious crashes are on the rise too – there were 18 last year, up from 10 in 2017 and two in 2016. Road safety consultant Fergus Tate said if the new expressway was built, those numbers would almost certainly drop.